High drama in the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally for Poulter

There was high drama in the second stage of the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally at the Killarney race track when championship leaders Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee hit a wall and damaged their Castrol Toyota Yaris S2000 extensively.

After losing 6.6 seconds to arch rival and championship runner-up Mark Cronje (with new navigator Gerhard Snyman) in the first stage, Poulter/Coetzee hit a kerb in the pit complex of the track, causing the rear of the Yaris to hit a wall.

The force ripped out the rear wheel and damaged the rear suspension, forcing the pair to coast to the finish – losing over 2 minutes to leader Cronje in the process.

A total of 34 teams started the rally from the McCarthy Toyota dealership in Table View before tackling the two tar stages at Killarney. Cronje and co-driver Snyman promptly posted the fastest time, followed by Poulter and the Sasolracing Volkswagen team of Henk Lategan and Barry White, another 1.4 seconds adrift.

After two stages Cronje leads Lategan by 11.1 seconds, followed by De Villiers (15.6 seconds), Fekken (24.3) and Van der Walt (32.3 seconds) with two more tar stages to be run tonight at the Cape Gate shopping centre.